National Healthy Schools Standard (NHSS)

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Further information

The NHSS is the mainstay of the healthy schools programme and was introduced in 1999 as a vehicle to support delivery of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). The NHSS and PSHE framework support each other and engage staff, pupils, governors, parents and the wider community in a whole school approach. This aims to improve educational achievement, health and emotional well being, and make schools a safe, secure and healthy environment in which young people can learn and develop.

The NHSS includes eight key areas of activity:

Personal, social and health education
Citizenship
Drug education (including tobacco and alcohol)
Emotional health and well being
Healthy eating
Physical activity
Safety
Sex and relationship education

DfES and Department of Health officials work closely together to shape the development of the NHSS. The main focus of the national programme to date has been the accreditation of partnerships between LEAs and health authorities under criteria established by the NHSS. The setting up and quality assurance of strong local partnerships are essential to ensuring that all schools have the support and resources to participate in the NHSS.

School involvement

All schools have an opportunity to work at three levels of NHSS participation:

Level 1

To know about and understand the benefits of involvement in the local NHSS programme through published materials, e.g. via newsletters or briefing events.

Level 2

To know about the local programme and be involved through accessing quality assured training/initiatives/projects related to the healthy schools programme, either through the LEA or the health providers or some other agency. In this context 'quality assured' means that the training, initiatives and programmes provided to schools adopt a whole school approach and are consistent with the principles and processes advocated by the NHSS.

Level 3

To know about the local programme and become involved through accessing training. Schools will have demonstrated a more intensive level of involvement by having undertaken a process of auditing, target setting and action planning. The impact of activities is assessed through school monitoring and evaluation, with a particular focus on pupils' learning outcomes.

Local healthy schools programmes have developed a range of models to recognise achievements by the schools that are involved at level 3, and this is one of the strengths of the healthy schools programme. In order to achieve national consistency at level 3, schools are expected to fulfil specific criteria drawn from the NHSS and have evidence of the impact of development work for each criterion. This requirement is in line with current practice in schools where evidence is collected for celebration of success through the local healthy schools programme. The national evaluation of the NHSS, which is underway, will build on these criteria to provide more refined indicators for the future.

A school achieves Level 3 involvement when there is a range of evidence of impact, demonstrating that all of the following criteria have been met:

Social inclusion and health inequalities inform the development and implementation of activities.
In line with the DfES Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Strategy, the impact of CPD (including, for example, teacher lesson observations, work shadowing and mentoring) on the success of healthy schools activities is regularly being evaluated and informs the development of the healthy schools programme.
The school is delivering the requirements of the national curriculum, particularly in relation to sex and relationship education and drug education (including alcohol and tobacco) in line with statutory requirements, non-statutory guidance and the NHSS criteria.
The views of all pupils (including those with special educational needs and specific health conditions, disaffected pupils, young carers and teenage parents) are reflected in school activities,

The future of the NHSS

Since the final rounds of accreditation were attained in April 2002, LEA participation in the NHSS programme has reached 100 per cent. Over 14,000 schools are taking part in the healthy schools scheme at level 2 and 8,000 are working intensively at level 3 to achieve the standard. Half of these schools serve deprived areas. All schools in England with 20 per cent or more free school meal entitlement should be recruited to the programme by 2006.

The DfES will now focus on how the NHSS fits in with the broader range of Government education and health policy, and in particular, how the programme can: